Santa? Check. Stars? Check. Slugs? Wait, what..? This year on Milbank you’ve got to see a new kind of Christmas decoration; the Tate Britain Slugs.

For this year’s Christmas Commission, Tate Britain have unveiled #MonsterSlugs.

Designed by Monster Chetwynd, the two Leopard slugs have slimed all over the galley’s facade, leaving trails of (eco-friendly) white and blue lights.

Chetwynd was inspired by a nature documentary to create these 10m long creatures, wanting it to look like “…as if two really fantastically sexy slugs climbed all over the Tate and smeared their snail trail everywhere.”

For the curious, Leopard Slugs give their slime a special taste that indicate when they’re ready to mate. A fellow slug will follow the trail and give them a little nibble. The pair end up entwining and release luminous blue – ahem – matter.

It’s actually rather beautiful. If you don’t believe me, you can watch the clip of Attenborough’s BBC documentary ‘Life in Undergrowth’ from youtube here;

At the moment London is covered in Christmas decorations, so it’s brilliant to see something truly unique!

Here’s what it looks like at night…

The installation will be up until February 25th and the closest station to Tate Britain is Pimlico.

Explore London’s Christmas Lights

On select December evenings I’m running my Alternative Christmas Lights Walking Tour, taking in the festive sights of Mayfair while sharing the bizarre history of the streets we’re passing! See dates and find out more here.

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